Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving at Grandma's house. I went up with the kids on Wednesday...sat in a HUGE amount of traffic...Joaquin ended up peeing in a cup in the car while we were stuck! Then we had to make an emergency stop at a Mcdonald's for Isabela. What should have taken an hour and 15 minutes, ended up taking almost three.

We were ready to eat on Thursday around 10am I think, but everyone didn't get there until around noon. Someone remembered the parade was on...so that and the dog show entertained the kids until it was time to eat. Plus, I made them dress like the pilgrims and indians...just for the photo, then they promptly took the costumes off.


Did you know we were related to Colin Farrell?


The girls...minus Isabela.


The boys.


Of course, they wouldn't all get in one picture...who's missing? Plus no one except me wanted to get a picture of the whole family, so that didn't happen either! I did get a funny video of the turkey carving...which gave a sample of all the bickering that usually goes along with Thanksgiving, but it wouldn't post.
We missed all those that couldn't be there, and hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

a great indoor activity

I checked a great book out of the library the other day....it was full of ideas of things to do with the kids when you are stuck inside. So we tried the mini golf idea. We used things around the house to make up the course. That part was probably more fun than the actual playing...but the kids really got into it.

another tree lighting!

Isabela and I went to the Stony Point tree lighting the other night. The boys had stayed home with colds. It was really fun because they have the fake snow that falls...It really looks real until you taste it! We watched some skaters at the ice skating rink and then proceeded to stand in line for an hour for a balloon animal!! Yes, this was the night that it was like 29 degrees! The only reason we stayed was because we were with friends...the kids had fun, and if you stood real still, you almost felt warm!

Christmas crafts

We had an at home weekend this weekend. Isabela was sick on Saturday, so we just watched movies all day. Then yesterday, we played in the yard...raking the thousands of leaves that fell from Saturday; collected pinecones to spray paint, and Juan Pablo built a roaring fire that nearly melted our faces off when we roasted the marshmallows.




We also started some Christmas crafts...I know, I know Thanksgiving hasn't even happened, but I love Christmas and there just isn't enough time to do all the crafts! When I was in college, my mom sent me a care package that had a tiny Christmas tree with tiny ornaments, and I thought that would be a fun activity for the kids to do. That way, they could decorate their tree just how they wanted, and redecorate it whenever they wanted. They loved this! And the trees were only $3.00 at Michaels! I had also bought two different foam kits for the kids to put together....as you can see, one likes to think outside the box, and one likes to go by the directions!

our first treasure!

We found our first buried treasure in our yard this weekend! As I was raking up our path from all the fallen leaves, I came across this bottle! We dug it up and it seems to be a really old Mountain Dew bottle....Juan Pablo found the number 79 on the bottom which could be a date (that's when the house was built). The slogan says, "It'll tickle your innards!"

Christmas magic!

Last night, we braved the rain to go see the first appearance of Santa at Short Pump! There was live Christmas music for about 30 minutes, a parade of Christmas characters, then Santa arrived on the train. He even shook hands with Joaquin! But the joyous night did not end like that....can you believe they said, "I thought we were going to have movie night!" when we got home at 8pm! So instead of, "Thanks for taking us to see Santa", we got crying and screaming about movie night. Although my initial reaction was unbelief that my own children could be ungrateful, I know that I must try to model the right behavior, and perhaps I, myself, have been ungrateful. It is amazing how much our own children can teach us!

Bowling!

We went bowling Monday night and it was the first time ever for the kids and for Juan Pablo! There is no bowling alley in La Paz...he said people in Bolivia wouldn't want to wear shoes that other people wear. The place was practically empty...we went before 6pm when the leagues come...Joaquin calls them the "laners".


Have you ever seen a ball take a full two minutes to go down the lane? We definitely needed the bumpers up for no gutter balls, but everyone did great for their first time. Joaquin got a strike on the second round! He was beating everyone for most of the game with all of his spares.



Wow! Those balls are heavy...even for the kids they are 9 lbs.!


I love this shot!
Everyone decided we should definitely go again...Juan Pablo's last thoughts were "bowling can be addictive!" Uh-oh!....I'm fine with the 10 rounds and that's it. But it was a lot of fun to see how excited the kids (and Juan Pablo) were at trying something completely new!

our nature path

My good friend Liz gave us a great idea to rake a little path through our woods for the kids to play on. It didn't take long at all, was great exercise and fun, and the kids have been so excited to play on it everyday! I've been trying to make sure I send the kids outside more....since I've been researching homeschooling, I've discovered this great teacher's methods, Charlotte Mason, and this is one thing she said about outdoor play:
"With all the pressure to give our children a good education and adequate socialization, it's good to remember that a mother's first duty should be to provide a secure, quiet early childhood. For the first six years, children should have low-key schedules so they can just be and grow, and they should spend most of their waking hours outside enjoying the fresh air. This is not just good for their bodies; their heart, soul and mind are nourished with exactly what they need when we leave them alone in a stress-free environment among happy influences that give them no reason to rebel and misbehave."

So this morning, when they started to get a little rambunctious before it was time for the bus, I sent them outside to play on the path...fun for them, and peace of mind for me!

Betty Crocker

Isabela is going to be the next Betty Crocker...she LOVES to cook...when I'm brave enough to let her. Today we made a cheese ball and pudding, but she can cook her own scrambled eggs on the stove and bacon in the microwave!

trick or treat!

Isabela and Ellie!


Batman...da..da..da..da..da..da..da..da...Batman!!


A little princess makeup!!


What a great night trick or treating! One of the benefits of not living in a neighborhood is you get to pick where you want to go trick or treating. Several friends were nice enough to invite us to their neighborhoods. One of the neighborhoods went all out, and people had their fire pits out front, passing out candy, and had spooky music and very scary decorations. I was exhausted by the end...since when did houses get built with such STEEP driveways?